Skillful sub-seasonal weather and climate forecasting has proven to be particularly difficult but is of great interest to water managers. Sub-seasonal forecasting, spanning approximately 15 to 45 days in the future, is difficult because it bridges short-term forecasting, where initial conditions primarily determine upcoming weather, and long-term forecasting in which slowly varying factors such as sea surface temperatures and soil moisture become more important.

This Challenge seeks to improve on existing sub-seasonal forecasts and asks Solvers to develop systems that perform demonstratively better than an existing baseline forecast for temperature and precipitation over a 15-42 day time frame. Solvers will have three months to develop their system, at which point they are asked to provide forecasts every two weeks over a 13 month period, with the first month being a “pre-season” to become familiar with the submission and evaluation processes.

Prizes may total up to $800,000. Four categories are defined by two forecast outlook periods and two forecast variables (temperature and precipitation). In each category, prizes for eligible solvers are as follows:

1st place - $100,000

2nd place - $50,000

3rd place - $25,000

In addition, one $25,000 prize per category may be awarded to an eligible solver based solely on hind- performance, submission of which is a requirement to be eligible for the above listed prizes.

PLEASE NOTE: This Challenge will remain open on InnoCentive.com for approximately 17 months, and while registration will be possible for the duration of posting the practical deadline for registering will be May 13, 2017. This is approximately two days prior to the deadline for the third forecast submission after which no new forecast submission accounts will be created and late-registering Solvers will be unable to upload the required forecasts. ADDITIONALLY: Solver InnoCentive usernames will be shared with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of the forecast evaluation process and leaderboard tracking, and will appear on a publically available leaderboard to track Solver performance.

This is a Reduction-to-Practice Challenge that requires written documentation, proof-of-concept data, source code, and delivery of an executable application.

Privacy Advisory

This web site is hosted by a private entity and is not a service of the Bureau of Reclamation or the Department of the Interior (DOI). The solicitation and collection of your personal or individually identifiable information is subject to the host’s privacy and security policies and will not be shared with Reclamation or DOI unless you win the Challenge. Challenge winners’ personally identifiable information must be made available to Reclamation in order to collect an award. Please consult the Challenge Specific Agreement.

Eligibility Requirements

This Challenge is being conducted under the authority of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (15 U.S.C. § 3719). The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 states that awards for this Prize Competition may only be given to an individual that is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, or an entity that is incorporated in and whose primary place of business is in the United States, subject to verification by the Seeker before Prizes are awarded. Further restrictions apply – see the Challenge Specific Agreement and the Federal Register Notice for full eligibility details.

Note: Submissions can be entertained from all Solvers regardless of whether they are U.S. citizens/entities. Meritorious submissions from non-U.S. citizens and entities as well as U.S. citizens that may not be prize eligible (see Challenge Specific Agreement and the Federal Register Notice) if any, will be recognized in publications issued by the Seeker announcing the results of the competition, such as press releases. Non-U.S citizens/permanent residents or non-U.S entities can also be included on U.S. teams. However, under the authority of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (15 USC 3719), the Seeker cannot award prizes — whether monetary or otherwise — to individuals that are not U.S. citizens, not permanent residents of the U.S. or entities not incorporated in and maintaining a primary place of business in the U.S.

The Seeker is looking for a method to operate private LTE cellular systems using non-owned radio spectrum on a secondary basis. These private cellular systems would be used to support First Responder emergency events on a temporary basis.

The Botnar Healthy Cities for Adolescents Challenge is seeking proposals from consortiums representing partners from government, civil society and the private sector to develop and strengthen sustainable and equitable community systems in secondary cities in Ecuador, Colombia, Senegal, Ghana, and two states in India – Rajasthan and Odisha – that target the health and wellbeing of adolescents aged approximately 10 to 15 years.

Successful applications will be competing for funding of a maximum amount of 800,000 Swiss francs (CHF) for three-year projects.

Submissions must be received by 11:59 PM GMT (UK) on August 19, 2018. For further information about this Challenge and to apply, please click here to be directed to its dedicated website.

Enel is looking for innovative services and functions to be delivered to citizens and/or municipalities that can be provided by the use of the light poles infrastructure. This Challenge for Solvers is not only technical, but also to formulate a service based on a sustainable business model.

This Challenge seeks to identify new or improved methods for monitoring pathogens, specifically viruses, to facilitate the indirect and direct reuse of municipal wastewater for potable uses as a means to alleviate water shortages and expand current water supplies. In indirect potable reuse, treated wastewater enters an environmental buffer, such as a stream, reservoir or groundwater aquifer, intended for use as a drinking water source. This reuse may be de facto (in effect) or engineered (intentional) with the latter involving advanced water treatment prior to the environmental buffer. In direct potable reuse, the environmental buffer is removed and treated wastewater undergoes advanced water treatment in an engineered system prior to reuse as a drinking water source. Solutions must improve on the current state of technology for either direct virus monitoring in wastewater or surrogate monitoring of reverse osmosis process integrity. Areas of needed improvement include: sampling time, measurement accuracy and measurement sensitivity.

This is Stage 1 of a planned two-stage Challenge, with the second stage consisting of a prototype demonstration and a larger prize purse. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is the Seeker for this Challenge, and Xylem, Inc. is a co-sponsor of this Challenge contributing to all aspects of this Challenge including the prize purse. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and The Water Research Foundation are collaborating on various aspects of this Challenge such as design, technical review, judging, and promotion. The California State Water Resource Control Board is contributing to the design and judging of this Challenge.

PRIVACY ADVISORY

This web site is hosted by a private entity and is not a service of the Reclamation or the Department of the Interior (DOI). The solicitation and collection of your personal or individually identifiable information is subject to the host’s privacy and security policies and will not be shared with Reclamation or DOI unless a Solver wins the Challenge. To collect an award, Challenge winners’ personally identifiable information must be made available to Reclamation. Please consult the Challenge-Specific Solver Agreement.

Acquisition of a first language is essential for early childhood development and a building block for learning to read. Literacy is linked to all development goals contributing to psycho-social health, employment opportunities, economic growth, and breaking the cycle of poverty.

Globally for children who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind (henceforth referred to as ‘Deaf’#), access to and education in a local sign language is often limited or absent. Without access to whole language with frequent and daily input to an accessible and natural language, the foundations of literacy, children are prevented from reaching their full potential. In developing countries and low-resource contexts, literacy outcomes for children who are Deaf are particularly substandard. As such, All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development is launching the Sign On For Literacy Prize, which seeks technology-based innovations to increase access to local sign languages and develop literacy interventions for children who are Deaf in low-resource contexts. Winning innovations must be novel, while utilizing technology to make a significant impact upon learning and literacy in the Deaf Community.

#‘Deaf’ is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing people with varying hearing levels, including people who are deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing.

The Botnar Child Road Safety Challenge is seeking proposals from consortiums representing partners from government, civil society and the private sector to address road safety problems which impact children in India, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Tunisia, and Vietnam.

Successful applications will be competing for funding of a maximum amount of 400,000 Swiss francs (CHF) for two-year projects. There will also be an opportunity for three additional years of funding for a total of up to 1,000,000 CHF over the full 5 years.

Submissions must be received by 11:59 PM GMT (UK) on August 4, 2017. For further information about this Challenge and to apply, please click here to be directed to its dedicated website.

How can we protect steel structures from corrosion in water for fifty or more years without significant maintenance or replacement of the protection method?

The Bureau of Reclamation, in collaboration with the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Navy Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking long term corrosion protection for large, hydraulic steel structures beyond the protection provided by available coatings and cathodic protection. The structures of interest for this prize competition are hydroelectric penstock pipes and gates that control or divert water. The goal is fifty years of corrosion protection with minimal maintenance and low cost of installation.

This Challenge launches Stage 1 of a planned two-stage Challenge. Stage 2 is envisioned as a Reduction to Practice Challenge in which participants demonstrate their technology in lab- and field-scale evaluations.

This web site is hosted by a private entity and is not a service of the Bureau of Reclamation or the Department of the Interior (DOI). The solicitation and collection of your personal or individually identifiable information is subject to the host’s privacy and security policies and will not be shared with Reclamation or DOI unless you win the Challenge. Challenge winners’ personally identifiable information must be made available to Reclamation in order to collect an award. Please consult the Challenge-Specific Agreement.

Preservatives are substances that are added to products to prevent them from spoiling. These chemicals work by retarding microbial growth and preventing product degradation. In addition to being used in foods, preservatives are added to household and personal care products. Due to concerns about the safety of some preservatives that have been in wide use, and the impact of repeated contact with these chemicals on human health, the Seekers desire new and effective preservatives or preservative boosters with improved environmental health and safety profiles for use in personal care and household products.

The Seekers expect to award 3 – 5 cash prizes from a prize pool of $175,000, with a minimum single prize award of $25,000. No awards are guaranteed unless the submissions meet or exceed the criteria.

The Seekers have a preference for broad spectrum solutions and intend to award higher amounts to submissions that demonstrate activity addressing two or more of the following: gram positive bacteria, gram negative bacteria, mold, yeast.

Up to 5 finalists will be invited to present their technologies at a meeting in February or March 2018 in the United States (with funding provided to offset some travel costs) and to network with representatives from consumer product companies and preservative suppliers.

All Solvers who submit to this Challenge will gain visibility and receive feedback on their technologies. A Solver does not have to be a finalist in order to be afforded these opportunities. Furthermore, companies (listed below) may be interested in partnering on joint development of, investment in, and/or licensing promising technologies.

This is a Reduction-to-Practice Challenge that requires written documentation and experimental proof-of-concept data.

The solution is a field-ready prototype system that includes one central data receiving unit and at least two sensor nodes measuring fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and carbon dioxide (CO2) that communicates data wirelessly and measures a wide dynamic range of concentration levels expected during wildland fires. The prototype system should be accurate, lightweight, and easy to operate, enabling first responders, states and nearby communities to easily measure wildland fire smoke exposure. In addition to the potential award, all Solvers providing prototypes will directly receive information on their system’s laboratory test results as well as qualitative feedback by air monitoring experts. If the system proves to be reliable and useful, deployment of a larger-scale sensor network is anticipated as part of follow-up projects measuring smoke impacts during wild and prescribed fires. This is a Reduction-to-Practice Challenge that requires delivery of a written preview of the solution, followed by a prototype system with supporting documentation.

The MasterCard Foundation Clients at the Centre Prize 2017 is looking for the world’s most impactful and sustainable financial services provider that puts “clients at the centre” of its thinking and operations for the benefit of poor people in developing countries.

The Prize consists of a US$150,000 award to expand or reinforce client-centric practices within the winning organisation.

Submissions must be received by 11:59 PM GMT (UK) on June 05, 2017. For further information about this Prize and to apply, please click here to be directed to its dedicated website.